Influence of ceramic block geometry and mortar coating on the sound reduction of walls

Abstract

The materials that compose a construction system influence directly the acoustic performance of buildings. In masonry systems, through experiments, the geometry of the blocks and the types of coating were perceived as fundamental factors on the acoustic performance of walls. Therefore, this study intends to enrich the database and promote analysis for the civil construction industry by evaluating the airborne sound reduction of masonry walls composed by ceramic blocks with and without mortar coating. Accordingly, different partitions made of different ceramic blocks were built to determine the performance discrepancies in the partitions’ behavior due to physical characteristics and the influence of the mortar coating. These analyses were made in laboratory. As a result, without coating, the highest sound reduction was observed in the samples with more bulk mass and higher A_liq/A_t ratio (relationship between the net and gross areas of the ceramic blocks). Then, with the mortar coating, the coating improved the sound reduction. Moreover, the bulk mass was the most influential characteristic in comparison to the A_liq/A_t ratio, even though the best results were obtained in the samples with higher A_liq/A_t ratios.